If Traditional Secondary Schooling is so Outdated - What is the Alternative?
Secondary education desperately needs to evolve alongside our constantly changing world. Students now need to be equipped with the complex challenges and opportunities of the future.
With a fiercely competitive and ever-changing job market, globalisation, social, economic, political and environmental challenges, and rapid technological advances, students need to develop a wide range of skills; critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, collaboration, creativity, and digital literacy, understanding of sustainability, social justice, and global citizenship, for example, all being far more relevant and important to their future success than what is currently being taught in educational institutions today.
Amidst all this change, one vital factor seems to get overlooked - that the priority of an education should lie with the individual. A child should be given the opportunity to develop into the person they want to be, to learn what and how they want to learn, to discover and pursue a future that is theirs, designed by them.
In this world we speak of, in which the outdated traditional education system seems to have reached its limits, a new approach to learning emerges. Welcome Brave Generation Academy, a new method of schooling that is changing the face of education as we know it.
THE MISSION: To empower young generations with the resources they need to succeed in life, through educational and personal development programmes.
THE VALUES: Discover your passions, unleash your genius. Reflect, learn, grow. Respect others and yourself. Be honest and generous, be ambitious but stay humble.
Be yourself, BE BRAVE.
Brave Generation Academy (BGA) addresses the need for change in education, exploring the challenges faced by learners of the modern world. In a six-episode documentary series, BGA highlights their fight for a more personalised and empowering education system, the traditional education model versus the BGA hybrid education model, and the stories of founders and co-workers who are developing it, plus families and learners who have benefited from it.
BGA has introduced the concept of hybrid learning – a three pillared approach combining online academics, personalised skill development, and community-based projects whilst attending a learning centre or ‘hub’. The documentary covers the premise behind this innovative approach to secondary education which provides the freedom and flexibility of working at one’s own pace alongside tutor support, mentor support, and on-site socialisation, as well as being immersed in the community and acquiring skills outside of academia, allowing learners to find their passions and follow their own path.
Through interviews with educators, learners, and parents, the series delves into the innovative teaching methods and personalised approach of Brave Generation Academy, discussing the challenges that have been overcome (and those they continue to face) whilst working to make this model more accessible to everyone.
The model removes the idea of hierarchy in school, bullying is taken out of the equation as each individual is equal. Every learner has the same opportunities, and each is in charge of their own future. Location is not a factor with BGA, you can learn from anywhere on the planet and receive the same qualifications, there are no geographical or socio-economic restrictions. Students are encouraged to attend the hub from Monday to Friday for a minimum of 6 hours per day, but the centres are open from 8am-6pm so the timetable is flexible to accommodate. Hubs do not close in summer so students can continue their studies throughout the year, take breaks or vacations when it suits them or their families, take courses in topics they’re interested in at any time of year, and sit relevant exams when they are ready; they are given the freedom and space to choose the when and how.
BGA is an educational framework that provides all the doors and the support needed to help learners open the right ones for them, because everyone is different. Something which our current systems and institutions do not and can not currently offer.
BGA is a young, fresh and exciting alternative to secondary education which focusses on the individual; it removes the four walls, the learning by heart, the stress of regular school timetables and peer pressure, the judgement, etc. to encourage individual, free-thinking, inspired and motivated young individuals to be ready for their next phase in life out in the world.
There are currently more than fifty hubs across the globe with 1000+ learners leading the way for the evolvement of the BGA educational model. As they learn, BGA learns - the success of BGA relies on feedback and understanding what the young people need, and what they don’t. They listen, they take it on board, they adapt and provide. The system is not rigid and closed, it is open to suggestions and malleable to adopt change in order to advance and fulfil the needs of its learners.
“Stay updated on the BGA journey, help us spread the word, and together we can make a difference in the world, one learner at a time”. ~Tim Vieira, Founder.